8 New Inspection and Quarantine Policies Implemented in Shanghai Free Trade Zone are Qualified for Promotion

Original Article by Alice Yang from CIRS

On Sep 24th 2014, Shanghai CIQ published a notification that there are 8 out of 23 new implemented policies in Shanghai Free Trade Zone are qualified for promotion in the other special controlled area in China.

The 8 new policies are: paperless inspection and quarantine clearance, inspection and quarantine line control mechanism, pre-inspection of imported goods, third-party testing result entrustment, global maintenance industry supervision, inspection and quarantine negative list management of animal and plants and their related products, risk management of imported/exported bio-material (bio-product) and certificate of the place of origin of the goods in transition.

Highlights of the qualified new policies

As reported, Shanghai Free Trade Zone has started the first paperless clearance for the first enterprise since Aug 1st 2014. Shanghai Free Trade Zone is looking to achieve the complete paperless inspection and quarantine processes in one or two years.

Pre-inspection policy has shortened the clearance period of imported industrial products (from 7-8 business days down to 3-4 business days), cosmetics (from 12 business days down to 5 business days) and wines (from 15 business days down to 3 business days).

Third-party testing result entrustment has been successfully implemented in the imported automobile area. Imported oil, liquid industrial product, toys were also included in the area of this policy.

AQSIQ has authorized Shanghai CIQ to be in full charge of all the inspection and quarantine approval processes for animals and plants and their related products excluding live animals, fruit and grain for the negative list management. The approval process period has been reduced from 20 business days down to 7 business days and the certificate valid period has been increased from 6 months up to 12 months.

Shanghai Free Trade Zone (SFTZ) could offer the certification of country of origin for goods transited in SFTZ to help develop the transit trade. Meanwhile, recertification, sub-certification and certification combination are also available.

These policies will definitely make the importation in China more convenient and efficient.